-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Gasps punctured the air inside Boston Symphony Hall after the conductor interrupted the afternoon performance to announce to the 2,500 people in the audience that President Kennedy had been assassinated .

Listening to the moment , which was captured on an audio recording , the emotions are still powerful 50 years later .

The weekly Friday concert had started at 2 p.m. `` just like normal , '' recalled Joseph Silverstein , then a 29-year-old violinist in his first year as the concertmaster for the Boston Symphony Orchestra . No one in the concert hall knew that , as they took their seats for the performance , their president had been fatally shot in Dallas .

Thirty minutes in , the orchestra broke for a 15-minute intermission . And that , Silverstein recalled , is when this very normal day was shattered .

During the intermission , Silverstein remembers huddling around the 24-inch TV in the basement , watching in horror along with 100 other musicians as Walter Cronkite delivered the news of the assassination .

There was no time to react . `` I was just trying to grasp the reality of it , '' Silverstein said , adding that he has never publicly shared his memories from that terrible day until now . `` We were stunned . ''

The orchestra had to go upstairs to an audience that remained blissfully unaware of the events in Dallas .

As the group walked to the concert hall , several orchestra members openly wept , but Silverstein says they still managed to take their seats .

The orchestra 's music director , Erich Leinsdorf , was going to have to break the news to the audience . Silverstein says the legendary music director was nervous , but his Austrian-tinged English was slow and deliberate while making the announcement , as if delivering the 46 words was just as painful as the initial shock of the president 's death .

`` Ladies and gentlemen , we have a press report over the wires . We hope that it is unconfirmed , but we have to doubt it , '' Leinsdorf told the audience . `` The president of the United States has been the victim of an assassination . ''

A rush of gasps and screams filled the cavernous hall .

Leinsdorf continued , `` We will play the funeral march from Beethoven 's Third Symphony . ''

A second swell of gasps as the audience grappled with the news and the announcement that the music would go on .

Seated at the end of a row , closest to the audience , Silverstein watched the stunned people react to the news . Some left the hall , but the majority remained . The audience came to their feet , standing for the entire funeral march , rising to honor the memory of their slain leader .

The funeral march lasted for 12 minutes , what seemed like an eternity to Silverstein .

The orchestra 's president of trustees at the time , Henry B. Cabot , a member of Boston 's noted Cabot family , walked to the stage . Cabot , who regularly attended the Friday afternoon concerts , told the audience a story about the death of his father , according to Silverstein saying that he had `` needed to hear music to help through the tragedy '' because of the `` solace '' music provides .

Playing his violin for the remainder of the program , 30 minutes of a very surreal experience , Silverstein could barely concentrate on the music . He remembers gazing out into the audience and looking into the eyes of others in the orchestra , disbelief registering on their faces .

Once the program was over , the remaining audience members stood and filed solemnly out of the hall . Not one person applauded . Silverstein himself went home to his mourning family in nearby Brookline .

He remembers this event as the first of many blows to the country , as it was followed by the assassinations of Malcolm X , the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy .

The shooting of the president was the `` first time anyone of us had been confronted with the situation , '' he said .

It was the day peace was shattered .

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This week marks 50 years since JFK was assassinated

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Boston symphony-goers learned of his death during a weekly performance

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The moment is captured on an audio recording